Reflection on Technology in the Classroom

 Image: Memes.com

When I became a teacher one the practices that I have really devoted my time on is reflection.  Reflection is really taking a deep look at myself and thinking about what I did well, what I could improve upon and how I could do that.  I feel that I am a good teacher with tons of amazing ideas but taking those ideas and transforming them into something useful and meaningful to students is biggest hurdle for teachers.  I continue to think that I am a jack of all trades in my teaching and life.  I have a class that incorporates four different topics into one to create a class that will relate students to the real world and not only learn the engineering design process but apply it.  The above meme is one that I used in the past and I think that it represents how I am seeing the change in technology and how it affects my student's lives.  

General Technology Use in the Classroom

Technology in education will be a consistent no matter my thoughts or feelings about it.  As I went through the various activities, blogs, and assignments it is clear how much my students can learn from a consistent focus on technology and incorporation of the new technologies that are developed daily.  I know for myself that blogging is not my "thing".  I am sure that I pushed myself more I could get better at it and might enjoy sharing my blogs.  But I have students that would love doing this.  Now that I have a better understanding this process this might be a way that my students can share their work.  I am also going to look to add in infographics as another option to share their work for the communication portion of the engineering design proces.  I am working on this classroom structure that really develops my students ability to create independent projects and having many of these different applications and methods will help them share their work in a way that reflects the real world.  

Risk of Technology with my Students

One activity that I continue to think about is the involving doing a digital search on myself to get a feel on the digital tattoo I have left.  While I had some presence, I have done a great job hiding myself and having a very small and faint digital tattoo.  A lot of what I have done is to create boundaries for both my own personal life as well as the ones that my employers has set.  Illinois laws are also looking to help create boundaries for students and protect their information.  But what a student is doing out in the digital world outside of school is really up to them.  So how as an educator can I prepare my students to understand the risks?  By having honest talks about what your digital tattoo looks like and why thinking through a post or share is really important.  Usually someone makes a mistake and share something before other students learn form that mistake.  I think the other part is helping the parents to understand the importance of having those discussions with their child and then observing to have the "in the moment" discussion.  While my position on tech and middle schools has not changed but my thoughts on the importance of  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Technology and the Teacher

Image
Image: Smithsonian Magazine Oooo Technology!  Not to age myself by I always thought I would be living like the Jetsons at this point but it seems we are a bit away from the flying cars and a robot named Rosie that is doing all of the chores around the house.  Teaching with technology is a double edge sword.  I love having 1:1 technology so students can research something right away or look at a video clip for background research on a particular topic.   But just like any rabbit hole - my students can get lost in it!  It is so easy for them start clicking and suddenly class is over.   I have been fortunate that during my time as a teacher I have been able to grow with education technology instead of having to integrate it after the fact.  I am considered a digital immigrant but most of the time I don't feel that way.  My current district is one of the fortunate ones that has money and support in technology spending.  While other dist...
Read more

Teenagers and the Evolution of the Smartphone

Image
From this: Image: Huffpost.com To This: Image: Personal Photo Smartphones Our technology world has developed so quickly over the last few generations.   I love this infographic from  McCrindle.com .  In this infographic one part that I enjoy looking at is the timeline showing the incoming and outgoing technology.  I remember the days of transiting from a walkman to a discman.  A CD meant you could switch to whichever song you wanted to hear and not fast forward/rewind hoping you land on that song.  But the discman skipped a lot so that made way for digital storage of music as MP3s.  Cellphones to smartphones shows the transition from a large "Zac Morris" sized phones to now ones that can connect us to the whole world.  As I look at the end I think so much about what is ahead for us as a society especially my children.    I see lots of students on their phones in the morning and after school (with a little sneaking in their lock...
Read more

Social Media and Impact on Teenagers

Image
  I mage: Porsche Orland Park "Everyone sees you in your car" said one of my former classmate several decades ago when asked why getting the newest car was such a big deal in southern California.  I went to a university in Southern California with a lot of southern Californians.  There was a lot I didn't understand as a Midwest person who grew up in a lower/middle class household and a comment like that seemed so foreign and backwards (I know a bit judgey but most 20 years old are).  When I think back about this statement what I realized was that for this student her social status was based on what you could afford and that can be seen in what car you were driving.  Since that time there has been a shift in social status and it is now evaluated by your social media account.  How many followers do you have?  How many likes did I get on this post?  Did anyone share our post?  While I love that I can be connected with my cousins across the pond,...
Read more